One of my first experiences with an animal shelter was a little more than 16 years ago.   At that time I had a sheltie and was considering getting another one.  An acquaintance  mentioned that she'd seen a sheltie at the local shelter.  The next day I stopped in to take a look.

By that time the dog I'd originally come to see had already been adopted, but I walked up and down the rows of caging looking at the other dogs that needed homes.  One of the dogs was housed in a cage on the second level of a stainless steel caging unit.  With her black and white markings and cute papillon ears, she was adorable.  When they took her out for me I knelt on the floor and she immediately put her front paws on my knees and leaned up to lick my face.  I was sold -- the next day Belle came home with me. 

When I think back to that visit it strikes me how much things have changed in animal sheltering in the southeastern part of Wisconsin.  

First of all, I was allowed to take Belle home without her having met my other dog at the time beforehand.  I don't know of any shelter in this part of the state that wouldn't require that the other dog(s) in the household meet the potential adoptee first.  This is to ensure as best as possible that the dogs will be compatible.  While it's difficult to predict this with 100% reliability based on a single meeting, now that I work at a shelter I can say that sometimes it rules out an adoption based on the extreme behavior by one or both dogs. 

Another difference is how Belle was being housed.  She was in a unit of cages on the second level -- something similar to how HAWS currently houses our cats.   In 2009 Wisconsin passed legislation unofficially dubbed the "Wisconsin Puppy Mill Law".  Aimed at improving the poor conditions in which many puppy mills keep their dogs, it applies to most animals shelters and rescues as well since it applies to any individual, business or organization selling 25 dogs or more a year.

The law dictates how big an enclosure should be for a dog based on the dog's size.   According to the current law, today the shelter would be required to keep Belle in an enclosure of 12 square feet -- much larger than the cage she was in when I first saw her. 

When I first started working at HAWS almost 9 years ago I heard stories of the way the dog kennels used to be about 5 or 6 years before that.  In those days every kennel was almost always filled, and most of the time our puppy pits contained at least one litter of unwanted puppies. 

Today we always have at least a few kennels, and many times only half of our dog kennels contain dogs.  It's very rare that a litter of puppies actually comes in -- and when we do have a litter of puppies up for adoption many times they were taken in from shelters in other areas of Wisconsin. 


Another change that I've seen occur at shelters in this area is an increased awareness for mental and physical exercise. All shelters that I know of have a volunteer dog walking program. As a matter of fact the new Puppy Mill Law requires that dogs got a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day. HAWS easily exceeds that with most adoptable dogs getting 2 or 3 walks, if not more, a day.

Most shelters also have some kind of program in place where dogs are given training or are on behavior modification programs. Not only does this make the dogs more adoptable, but it gives them an opportunity to use their brains, boredom, and allows them more time with people.

There are many more changes in animal welfare. While I've only talked about the changes for dogs, there are many extremely positive things happening for cats and other animals as well. The days of animal shelters being merely a "pound" where unwanted animals were housed with the hope that maybe they might get adopted are over. Shelters are doing a lot to make an animal's stay as positive as possible, and as a result give pets a better chance of adoption.

Motivation Impacts Learning

One of the interesting things about the fact that I'm both a dog trainer and a humane educator is how many times things that apply to dogs is also relevant when trying to teach people.

My Lad Lake program this semester has been more challenging than the previous 2 semesters. For one thing the students are younger. Last school year the kids ranged in age from 13 to 18 years of age, while this semester I'm working with kids between the ages of 11 and 14. Also -- with the exception of one, this particular group of students really don't have a background with dogs. They don't have dogs, don't have a passion for dogs, and most have cats at home and are very much cat lovers.

I've struggled with getting the current group of boys motivated to work with HAWS dogs, and show the enthusiasm for training and canine behavior that the other two groups had. And I've had to apply a principle that dog trainers use all the time -- if the dog isn't learning and doesn't appear to be motivated try something else.

My original format consisted of a 20 minute PowerPoint with the remainder of the hour having the boys split up into two groups -- each working with their own designated adoptable dog. A few weeks I knew I was in trouble when I heard a couple of the boys complain that they were bored and didn't want to work with dogs. Part of it was frustration, and part of it was just that the program as it was set up was not working.

So I've changed a few things. I had them doing a competition to see who could get the most sits out of Mystic in a minutes time. I won at 25 sits - while each of the boys was able to do only 9 or 10 sits. And I used that as an opportunity to show the boys how to keep the dog engaged in training by holding his attention. Then they worked with their dogs and did the sit competition again, and really seemed enthusiastic about interacting with the dogs.

Another thing I did was to put together a case history for a dog named Jenna. Jenna is at HAWS, but currently isn't adoptable because she needs some training before she'll be ready for adoption. She is a very young dog who gets mouthy when she's frustrated or overly excited. HAWS Mod Squad -- a group of dedicated volunteers who have been trained to do behavior modification with HAWS shelter dogs, has been working with Jenna, but I also wanted to get the boys involved in her training.

I video taped her behavior and did a case history presentation. Then I asked the boys to brainstorm with me and talk about what her behavior problems were. I was amazed that all the boys were raising their hands and participating -- normally only one of the boys is eager to participate. And even better they made very valid contributions as to what her inappropriate behaviors were.

Then I asked them what we could do with training to improve her behavior. And again I was floored at the wonderful suggestions each of them came up with. They suggested that we train her to sit when people approach, work with her to be calm when petted, and teach her to be calm when her harness is being put on or taken off -- among other things.

The last few weeks we've still had a PowerPoint presentation, but then as a group we work with Jenna on those items for 10 or 15 minutes, and then they work in the two groups with their own dogs. And this seems to have made a huge difference in their attitudes towards the program. Not only are they seeing a tremendous difference in Jenna's behavior, but they are much more interested in working with the other dogs as well. And I even caught them working as a team and complimenting one another.

To Be or Not to Be

You're most likely familiar with that quote from Shakespeare's "Hamlet". This is the story of another Hamlet -- and the quote fits perfectly. Hamlet had a rough start in life, and there were many times he almost didn't make it.

HAWS periodically sends staff to the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission to take adoptable dogs for adoption here at HAWS. MADACC is the animal control facilty for Milwaukee County, but doesn't do adoptions. Once a stray's 7 day hold is up -- if they haven't been claimed, other shelters and rescue groups pull animals so that they can have a new chance at life.

In early July, 2006 one of our staff returned with 4 puppies estimated to be 4 or 5 days old. They'd been abandoned in a box at another facility and then taken to MADACC and now were going to be given a chance at life at HAWS -- however a foster home would have to be found for them.

At the same time we had a dog whose 8 week old puppies were ready for adoption. My heart melted at the sight of these helpless puppies no bigger than a guinea pig. And I thought that maybe the mother dog might still have some milk left. So I went home with 4 puppies and an adult female named Janet.

Janet was an excellent mother -- she stayed with the puppies and cleaned them with her tongue. She allowed them to nurse, however her milk had mostly dried up at that point and so I had to bottle feed the puppies. I decided to keep Janet as a surrogate mother. As a dog trainer I know how important a mother dog is to the puppies. They do so much more than provide nutrition -- they are instrumental in their development. Janet and I would have to share mothering duties.

One of the puppies wasn't doing well from the beginning, and I was sad, but not suprised when I found her dead one day. What I wasn't prepared for was that one of the other puppies stopped wanting to take the bottle. In desperation I took him to HAWS and we decided he was so far gone that he should be euthanized. A day later another of the puppies took a turn for the worse and I took him to HAWS as well. This time we tried to give him subcutaneus fluids in which fluids are injected with a syringe under the skin where the body absorbs them. He was still failing even after that, and I was left with no other choice other than to euthanize him as well.

I was devestated by this. I'd taken these puppies home expecting to see them thrive and grow, and now I'd lost all but one. I felt like a failure, and was terrified for the remaining puppy --even though he seemed to be doing well. I didn't want to name him because I didn't know if he'd make it or not.

My next few weeks consisted of sleeping on the couch so that I could hear him crying for his 2am feeding. The puppy and Janet accompanied me back and forth from home to work since the puppy needed to be fed every few hours. He grew bigger and stronger.

While I was fascinated to see first his eyes open, and then his ear canals, I also knew the significance of this developmental milestone. At about 3 weeks -- when the senses are all operational -- the canine critical socialization period begins. The puppy didn't have any littermates to interact with.

This can be a huge problem -- singleton puppies many times lack good bite inhibition since they don't have littermates to play with that can teach them that. They are also more prone to have problems dealing with frustration since they don't have competition from littermates for resources. And many times they don't learn appropriate canine communication.

Besides Janet I had 3 dogs of my own. I carefully introduced the puppy to my own dogs, and much to my suprise Mystic was the most interactive and extremely gentle with him, while the girls really didn't want much to do with him. Mystic turned out to be a fantastic surrogate father.

I also started to introduce him to other adult dogs belonging to HAWS staff if I was sure they would be appropriate to him. Getting him around as many appropriate adult dogs as I could would be the key to resolving some of his singleton puppy issues.

At about 3 weeks of age he had a name -- chosen by Anya -- the daughter of Dr. Wolterman -- the vet at HAWS. His name was Hamlet and I felt comfortable naming him since he was doing so well -- until the terrifying day he wasn't. Suddenly he stopped taking the bottle and became severely dehydrated. We did subcutaneous fluids with him, and I spent a tense day waiting to see if he would improve. He did, and after a day or two was back to his old self.

However, as the weeks went on I saw other signs that concerned me. Physically he was extremely healthy. However he started to show a severe lack of being able to deal with frustration. When confined to an exercise pen he would throw a temper tantrum at being confined by barking, growling and biting at the wires. When Janet would correct him he would become angry and go after her. While we didn't know what breed he was when he was just a few days old, it started to look like he was a pit bull mix. I knew he would be a large dog, and having these problems could make him a very dangerous dog as he grew older. I faced the prospect of euthanizing him if these behaviors continued -- not an easy thing to think about since those 2am feedings and time spent with him had made me very emotionally attached. But rationally -- as much as I loved Hamlet, I knew that I could not adopt him out if he was going to cause someone else heartache down the road.

As a dog trainer I knew what things I could do to try and change him around. I did a lot of restraint exercises -- restraining him in my arms, talking to him gently, and only releasing him when he relaxed. I also restrained him and reinforced him with treats. To teach him to deal with frustration I taught him sit at about 5 weeks of age and made him sit for treats, toys and play. I also made him sit before I would allow him to come out of his crate or out of the exercise pen. I interceded when he was being inappropriate with Janet so that he couldn't practice those behaviors.

To my relief and delight this behavior modification program worked. Hamlet developed into a very nice puppy, and at 8 weeks of age he went up for adoption. It broke my heart to see him confined to a kennel during the day, but that would give him the best chance for adoption, and at night he came home with me.

One day I found a crusty ring on his ear. At the time we had a ringworm outbreak with our cats and he must have picked it up at the shelter. He was removed as an adoptable candidate, and I took him home until the ringworm was gone when he was about 12 weeks old.

In the meantime there were several adopters that were interested in him. I found the greatest home for him -- a couple who had another pitbull they had adopted from HAWS. They melted at the sight of his cute little self, and I was impressed when they told me how much exercise their other dog had, the fact that he slept on their bed, and pretty much was their baby. Hamlet had a new home!

Hamlet's new name is Sam. I've seen him a few times over the years -- he always greets me joyously. I wonder if he remembers me as his caretaker when he was so young, or if he's just excited to see someone who is excited to see him. He's turned into a wonderful adult dog. He's gentle with children, great with other dogs, and doesn't have a mean bone in his body -- which is good since he now weighs a little over 100 pounds.

I saw Sam last week -- his big silly grin greeted me and it made me happy that I'd put in so much time, gone through so many emotions, and did as much work as I did to see him become the wonderful dog he is.